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Doxxing is the unfortunately growing phenomenon of having your personal data posted on public web sites, or even in commercial media (newspapers, TV/radio etc.)

What, if any, laws does this break in the UK? What civil legal recourse is available? Does the amount and type of data disclosed matter? E.g., is just posting the real name behind a pseudonym much different to posting the victim's home address or employer as well?

As a public service to any victims of doxxing, some advice on how to report it to the police would be helpful too. Most of it on the web is US-centric.

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    Do these laws protect victims out side of the UK? Like if the people breaking these laws are in the UK?
    – Redbrown
    May 6, 2020 at 4:46

2 Answers 2

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The primary protection against doxxing is likely to be the Protection from Harassment Act (1997) s 1:

1 Prohibition of harassment.

(1)A person must not pursue a course of conduct—

(a)which amounts to harassment of another, and

(b)which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other.

(2)For the purposes of this section, the person whose course of conduct is in question ought to know that it amounts to harassment of another if a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think the course of conduct amounted to harassment of the other.

The amount only matters insofar as a reasonable person would consider it, in the circumstances, to be harassment of the other.

Additionally, you may be able, if you show psychiatric injury, to pursue a tort of psychiatric injury against the perpetrator.

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There are three laws which apply and protect any individual in the UK who has been unlawfully doxed and identified.

  1. The Data Protection Act
  2. The Protection From Harrasement Act
  3. The Computer Misuse Act

In order to legally identify any person online you must have a court order issued to the isp of the person signed by a judge.You can not use services online to obtain information held on a person without the persons permission hence The Data Protection Act.

Also just because a persons information is public doesnt mean others can redistribute it without your consent especially for nefarious purposes example to get you harmed,or harrased or to lose your job,damage your reputation.

The Computer Misuse Act also applies to doxing when an individual uses there computer for nefarious purposes ie doxing which is considered harrasement and falls undr TPFHA The Protection from Harrasement Act.

Just because a person is in another country doesnt mean these laws dont protect you they do if you are a UK citizen and the person targetting you is in another county as the data would be of a UK person protected by these laws which law enforcement and online services must enforce these laws as it would be a criminal matter.

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